Feature Friday: “The scene of battle seems to be changed from Chicago to Pine Mountain”

The following items follow a story about a dispute that happened in the Pine Mountain area of Rabun County during August, 1894. The first item is from the 3 August 1894 issue (Volume 1, Number 7) of The Clayton Argus.

The scene of battle seems to be changed from Chicago to Pine Mountain. We hear that one day last week a number of boys met at or near the post office at Pine Mountain and by some means a dispute arose which precipitated a fight the result of which was knives. It is also stated that the boys had been taking on some tangle foot. We are sorry that so many of our young men participated in this useless habit of drinking. Boys, quit it, and you will certainly be glad of it.

In the subsequent issue, published 10 August 1894 (Vol. 1, Number 8), the editor names two of the subjects.

We hear that Guss Billingsley and Wood Bryson, the chief sufferers in the riot at Pine Mountain in our last week’s issue are getting considerably better. It was thought that Bryson was fatally wounded, but we are glad to hear that he was not.

I guess those two thought better the next time they were offered “tangle foot.”

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Quotations excerpted from my upcoming volume Rabun County, Georgia, Newspapers, 1894 – 1899, expected to be released in 2012.